The Pony Express: True Tales and Frontier Legends

By John L Smith

The Fields of Silver and Gold series brings the past alive. Meet the trailblazers and the pioneers, the first people and the famous explorers, the legends and the everyday heroes that shaped the history, land, and culture of the West. Their powerful stories will fascinate and inspire you.

Fearless. Young. Patriots.

Wanted - Young, Skinny Wiry Fellows Not Over Eighteen. Must Be Expert Riders, Willing To Risk Death Daily. Orphans Preferred.

Despite lasting only 18 months, the Pony Express is legendary in frontier history. Its fearless riders faced wild animals, hostile attacks, and robberies to deliver mail from coast to coast as the nation faced civil war and the telegraph raced to make it obsolete.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keystone Canyon Press
• Release date: Jun 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781953055217

John L Smith

Native Nevadan John L. Smith is a longtime journalist and the author of more than a dozen books. He has won many state, regional, and national awards for his writing and was inducted into the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame in 2016, the same year that saw him honored with the James Foley/Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Award, and the Ancil Payne Award from the University of Oregon. He freelances for a variety of publications, including The Nevada Independent. The father of a grown daughter, Amelia, he is married to the writer Sally Denton and makes his home in Boulder City, Nevada. Sarah Winnemucca and Snowshoe Thompson are his first in the Fields of Silver and Gold Series.

Book preview

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The Pony Express

True Tales and Frontier Legends

John L. Smith

In memory of Robert Cassidy,

as brave as any pony rider

Publisher Alrica Goldstein

Copyeditor Paul Szydelko

Cover Designer Alissa Gates Booth

Photo Research/Proofread Caelin De Sa

Keystone Canyon Press

2341 Crestone Drive

Reno, NV 89523

www.keystonecanyon.com

Copyright © 2022 by John L. Smith

Images: Horse silhouette by FreeVector.com, Dust Vectors by Vecteezy, Remaining images from LOC and Alrica Goldstein

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022938877

ISBN 978-1-953055-20-0

EPUB ISBN 978-1-953055-21-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

Author’s Note

Historians prefer to use primary sources (letters, diaries, speeches, and photographs) to learn about historical events. Sometimes facts aren’t written down as they happen so historians use secondary sources (things written about a historical event by someone who did not witness the event). With these pieces of information, they have to be critical thinkers that put the facts that they know together to make their best guess at what really happened.

You can be a critical thinker too! Keep reading about history that makes you think and dig deeper. Find new sources and think about how that might fit in with what you already know. Understanding our history helps us understand our world.

Timeline

1848 Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California.

1849 California gains statehood.

1851 George Chorpenning receives first contract to deliver the mail from Salt Lake City in Utah Territory over the Sierra to Sacramento, California. His Jackass Mail service takes up to fifty-four days.

1860 On January 27, Russell, Majors & Waddell freight company agrees to create a pony express relay to ensure a speedier delivery of important letters, documents, and news to the West.

1860 On April 3, the Pony Express begins its first run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento.

1860 On June 16, the US Congress authorizes the secretary of the Department of Treasury to subsidize the building of the transcontinental telegraph.

1860 Pyramid Lake Indian War in Nevada temporarily halts Pony Express service during the summer.

1861–1865 American Civil War takes place.

1861 On October 26, with the telegraph completed, the Pony Express discontinues its service.

Map of Pony Express Route

April 3, 1860–October 24, 1861

The pony-rider was usually a little bit of a man, brimful of spirit and endurance.

—Mark Twain, Roughing It

1

The Swift Phantom of the Desert Approaches

The Overland stagecoach rocked and rattled along the long and rutted road outside Scotts Bluff on the western edge of the Nebraska Territory. Out the windows, the Great Plains stretched in all directions. In the distance, Chimney Rock reached 480 feet above the rolling grasslands.

Chimney Rock towers over the Platte River Valley in Nebraska. It was a landmark stop on the Oregon Trail and dates back to the Oligocene Age.

Atop the stage on the box, as his seat was called, the driver handled the reins of six harnessed horses. Although exposed to the elements, the driver could spot friend and foe alike at a long distance from that vantage point.

Passengers inside the cramped coach struggled to find comfort and strained their eyes staring into the vast distance. One young man bound for Carson City, in what was to become Nevada, was especially fidgety. He joined the rest as they searched the horizon hoping to catch even a glimpse of a Pony Express rider as he raced across his rugged route. Although the speedy mail service was just a few months old, its intrepid riders had already captured the imagination of the public at a pivotal